lease duration

[jgriggs]

For those who are currently living in or have secured off campus housing for August, how long of a lease did you have to sign. For example...do you have to sign a full year lease or a ten month lease allowing you to go home for the summer? I will be making a trip to SGU at the end of June and was wondering what to expect.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!
Jocelyn

[Andrew21]

Our apartment lease is per semester, but we would have received a discount if we signed for a full year. I think most places will let you sign for a semester at a time. Also, feel free to attempt to "negotiate" a good rental rate. Don't forget that these lanlords are getting loaded off us (i have no problem with this, but don't think that you can't barter). We are living in true blue for the first term, but we may move to the cheaper area of lance aux epines after we have familiarized ourselves with the island. Good luck!

Andy

[Buttons]

For those who are currently living in or have secured off campus housing for August, how long of a lease did you have to sign. For example...do you have to sign a full year lease or a ten month lease allowing you to go home for the summer? I will be making a trip to SGU at the end of June and was wondering what to expect.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!
Jocelyn

Our landlord wanted a full year commitment and pushed for us to sign for the whole 18 months. He was very familiar with the school calendar and after asking us if we were med or vet he knew exactly how long we'd be on the island. I got the impression that he just wouldn't do a 10 month lease, which makes sense- few places I've lived in the states would do a 10 month lease. But that's just who I rented from, I'm sure it depends on the landlord.

My husband and I took a three day trip in April and finding housing was our main goal. I would advise you to start calling landlords the second you get on the island. We found that the majority of the apartments in the housing booklet were all ready taken. To top it off, most of the people we spoke with were not willing/able to show us the apartment within our time table- most wanted to make appointments for the next week- I think this is the 'Grenada Time' that we've heard so much about. If I remember correctly, you're living around Boston right now too and the housing market has been so hot here that often you see something same day and have to race to write the check before someone else steals it out from under you so I was just dumbstruck by the process down there. We found our place by asking our tour guide if he had any tips- now we're going to be his neighbors, lol! Be sure to ask around because sometimes the students have more direct numbers to the landlord than the phone numbers in the housing book (of which, at least 3 are totally wrong). If you haven't found it already, there's a housing guide in the members center that might help you out. Good Luck!

[drnick07]

lots of good information can be found at the Unofficial Housing Website http://www.geocities.com/sguhousing There are also a few landlord reviews as well. Our landlord allowed us to rent month-to-month, but then wanted us to sign a lease for a year. But we actually never signed a lease, nor anything else for that matter. Living off campus was interesting, but i am so glad to be back on campus now and for next term.

[5th Termer]

There is new housing all over in Grenada. The trick is finding it. I stayed in the dorms one term and that gave me time to look. I didn't use the housing list. Instead, I asked for the owner of every business I went into (restaurants, stores, etc.). Then I asked if they had or did they know of anyone who had an apartment for rent. Almost everyone did. All I had to do was choose one, mentioned my referral, and I was in. I stayed in my place until I left for St. Vincent. The rent was $450 a month I didn't have a lease. It was wonderful and I was sorry to leave.

[jgriggs]

Thank you all, this was very helpful. We were hoping to live on campus for the first semester so that we could get familiar with everything and then look off campus for the following semesters. They can't currently accomidate us so hence the search!

I have the housing list from the school, and like you said, I am sure most of them will be gone by the end of the month when I get down there. Our plan is to call a bunch of listings the week before we go, and hopefully make arrangements to see as many as we can while we are there.

This is so very different from Boston!

I guess we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed that things fall into place as they usually do.

[5th Termer]

Grenada is nothing like Boston, you are right about that.

What about just calling from the States and taking the best deal you can get over the phone? Shocking? Not really. I did that when moving from Grenada to St. Vincent. I had a referral for an apartment in St. Vincent but didn't feel a need to see the place. I made all the arrangements with the landlord via email and mailed her a deposit a year in advance. God was with me as that apartment was equal to the wonderful living arrangement I had in Grenada.

My overriding requirement was safety of the location and I was not disappointed in either place. I just followed my instincts.

It could save you the cost of a trip.

P.S. Why not live in the Round Houses (off campus student/married housing for one term while you are looking?

Good luck.

[Buttons]

Grenada is nothing like Boston, you are right about that.

What about just calling from the States and taking the best deal you can get over the phone? Shocking? Not really. I did that when moving from Grenada to St. Vincent. I had a referral for an apartment in St. Vincent but didn't feel a need to see the place. I made all the arrangements with the landlord via email and mailed her a deposit a year in advance. God was with me as that apartment was equal to the wonderful living arrangement I had in Grenada.

My overriding requirement was safety of the location and I was not disappointed in either place. I just followed my instincts.

It could save you the cost of a trip.

P.S. Why not live in the Round Houses (off campus student/married housing for one term while you are looking?

Good luck.

I originally signed up to live in the round houses with the thought that we would decide for sure during our visit. I wandered into the management office and explained that I was incoming and had reserved a spot. They seemed surprised stating there were only 2 or 3 married off-campus spots reserved by the school for August and all their other apartments were booked- so I'm assuming that if you haven't all ready reserved a spot there then it won't be an option. Furthermore, when I actually saw the place I knew there was no way I could possibly live there.

I've been out of 'campus' housing for many years now so I'm sure that's clouding my judgement of the place. It certainly seems to be in a convenient location, but dear lord they're small for two people, and expensive too. My husband and I live in a shoe box in the middle of Boston and even it's bigger than the room they showed me. With the stress of school and the change of environment I just didn't think it was a good plan to squish us in a one room bedroom/living room/kitchen set up. You can find a nicer place and a much better deal in lance aux epines.

[5th Termer]

expensive and small. But I approached housing the way I do most things, get my foot in the door then improve my position. I figured one semester guaranteed in the dorms would be a way to get oriented, then I could look. Having an SO it is even better because s/he can look while you study. It is only a suggestion. I tried to shut out how much better/worse things were at home and just evaluate everything I saw in Grenada on its own merits. It served me well on both islands.

[jgriggs]

Great suggestion. But as admissions told us, they have accepted a record number of married couples and students with SO's for the August class so on campus is just not an option right now. It would be nice while we go acclimated but we just don't have that option at this point.

We will call up a bunch of landlords before we go and visit (the school will refund so that is not an issue) and hopefully be able to secure something while we are there.

Do landlords accept american checks for deposits? Silly question I know, but I have been realizing how different things will become and just wanted to be sure we had the proper payment form before we head down.

[5th Termer]

Yes, some landlords will accept USD, whether or not in check form I can't say. I paid my landlords in local currency by withdrawing the amount from the ATM (using my ATM card from the States and my home bank account-no problem). In St. Vincent, my rent was more than the daily limit at the ATM so I would go two days in a row, which also was no problem as we were in town for the hospital anyway. The limit was high enough in Grenada so one trip was enough.

Do not worry about housing. There are new properties available all the time. You wouldn't be able to get those if you took something a few months ago. The housing list isn't the only source. If you find a nice place in your price range, just take it and spend the rest of the time exploring the island. Once you have the "where am I going to live" cloud removed you can take it easy.

Keep an open mind about the place too. Once you move in you will find things that you like about it and things that you don't. You will not know about the character of the landlord until after a few months (that was the best part for me and why I rated my experience high, but some were not as lucky). Whether or not the landlord has a generator matters depending on the number of power outages. A generator is not something you would think to look for (I didn't think about it either, but I was lucky the first time the power went out and I heard that noisy thing kick on...the only thing I didn't have in a power outage was AC-too big of a drain on the generator). Then there is security...some leave their housing choice because they are not satisfied. There are no guarantees anywhere so just use common sense in the day and at night.

I lived in private homes on both islands that were owned by local families. The house in Grenada had one apartment (mine) and the one in St. Vincent had two. It was nice to have a local family to count on and the "coming and going" of a family was good for security. My places weren't readily identified as "student housing" so I was left alone. I was a little wary of the apartment complexes for this reason.

Except for the Round Houses. Sorry to beat a dead horse. I understand that married student housing on campus is taken, but what about the off campus married student housing? The school has some kind of arrangement with the owners of the Round Houses, but that wouldn't prevent you from checking on your own. Some students who lived there moved after one term, and others stayed the whole 1 1/2 years and loved it. The location is convenient (on the bus route and by the grocery store), and LaBoulangerie is a good place to go for a quick bite.

In any case, all the best. You will find a place that is just right for you.

[Buttons]

I brought travelers checks with me, cashed them out at a bank once we found a place and paid our first month in EC. We had enough USD on us, but here requested EC Some landlords might take US Checks, but I wouldn't count on it. I'd make plans to pay in EC.

[drnick07]

We only had one poweroutage this term while i was off-campus. It affected the area from the morris bishop highway tournabout by the NCB bank all the way toward grand anse. It only lasted a few hours and we had it back on in time to have A/C and go to bed. Luckily my roommates and i all had flashlights. I don't know if thats the norm or if they were more common in years past. The True Blue campus has a generator, which has had to be implemented a few times this term (power always seems to go out during lecture). I think the longest we had to wait for it to kick in was 15 seconds. I don't know what the grand anse campus status is.

[archon218]

do negotiate ur rent

[emt036]

We only had one poweroutage this term while i was off-campus. It affected the area from the morris bishop highway tournabout by the NCB bank all the way toward grand anse. It only lasted a few hours and we had it back on in time to have A/C and go to bed. Luckily my roommates and i all had flashlights. I don't know if thats the norm or if they were more common in years past. The True Blue campus has a generator, which has had to be implemented a few times this term (power always seems to go out during lecture). I think the longest we had to wait for it to kick in was 15 seconds. I don't know what the grand anse campus status is.

According to Dr. Hansford, GRENLEC now has two generators, allowing for redundancy and fewer power outages that last more than a second.